Rodizio Rico (Islington)

I was really excited about going to Rodizio Rico Islington this weekend, as I had been hearing good things about rodizio restaurants for a long time and the concept seemed interesting. Well, I wish I hadn't bothered now.

The staff were EXTRAORDINARILY rude, from the hostess to the waiters. We were greeted in a very haughty manner and it took almost 10 minutes to be asked for our drinks orders. Nobody explained to us how the restaurant works and our questions were ignored by the staff, none of whom had a good level of English.

The hot buffet was just OK, but again the staff even managed to ruin that, with a waiter pouring more chicken wings into the bowl while I was still taking some, burning my hand. No apology or acknowledgement. We felt a bit happier when they started serving the meat, but we quickly realised that we were being missed out. There was a big party at the table next to us and they ended up taking ALL the meat. We saw them being offered chicken hearts, sausage and chicken, all of which disappeared before the waiter reached our table. You would have thought that the waiter would then start with us next time, but no, we were sitting for over 15 minutes without being offered a thing except for garlic bread, and we did not pay £23.50 a head for garlic bread. We eventually complained to the manager and they started coming to our table, but with an even surlier attitude this time. One waiter snapped at me and I didn't understand him (because of his bad English and strong accent), then he almost shouted at me, TAKE THE MEAT! I hadn't realised I was supposed to take it with my fork - why didn't they just explain that to us at the beginning?

We decided to leave after just an hour because we were having a miserable time., We were disgusted to find a service charge already added to the bill and wanted to ask for it to be removed, but were left waiting for about 15 minutes and eventually had to leave to catch our train. The whole experience was topped off with a smug smile from the unfriendly hostess on the way out. This was one of the worst dining experiences I have EVER had. I would not recommend Rodizio Rico to anyone unless they want to be insulted, have to beg for food and fed cheap, salty meat all evening. STAY AWAY!
Comment on this reader review

1 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Sunday, August 14, 2011

My experience was very disappointing and I would give this restaurant an overall mark of 4 out of 10. The meet served was unimpressive - chicken wings, chicken legs, ham, pork sausage, chicken sausage, chicken hearts - all cheap stuff. Then came rump steak which was OK and then we had to ask for lamb steak. There was no BBQ flavour and no sauces. The salad bar was OK but nothing to write home about.

If you appreciate good food, Rodizio Rico isn't the place to go.
Comment on this reader review

Mark Bernd
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Saturday, August 13, 2011

Went there last night for the first time and most definitely the last!

I've never ate such bad meat in all my life. Seriously the meat from a kebab shop tastes better so thats saying something. They probably think that by bringing in low quality meat no one will be able to distinguish whats good or bad.

To give an example it took me 5 minutes to chew through a tiny piece of beef and i still couldn't finish it!!

So then I thought at least the salad bar would fill the gaping hole in my stomach as I couldn't eat the meat anymore. Wrong again - poor cheap ingredients tasted so bland that water had more taste!

Service was also quite disinterested. Seriously don't go here - the place sucks - the food sucks - the service sucks. This is the first time I've written a review so if you don't believe me then go ahead and waste your money.
Comment on this reader review

V
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, June 16, 2011

Really not fun at all... Reminds me of feeding time at the zoo. Meat low quality, salad bar pretty rancid, service rude and if you like watching obese people get angry then this is your place...
Comment on this reader review

Kedi
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Monday, May 30, 2011

I've been going to Rodizio Rico for a few years now. The food is and always has been suberb. The buffet would make a very decent meal on it's own and then there is the meat which is still as delicious and tender as it has always been - and it's still great fun to get the bits sliced off in front of you.

However, as the old adage goes, it is getting too popular for it's own good. Admittedly we went at the busiest time possible - 9pm on saturday but that is now excuse for the following;

1) Seafood, fran-bacon and sausages disappeared from the menu

2) Fixed meal price jumped to £24 per person

3) Too many tables squeezed in to the room to maximise profits

4) Drink prices continue to spiral

The staff continue to be convivial and apologise for delays but at these prices it's lost its charm for me and perhaps it's spirit.
Comment on this reader review

Jim0734
4 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Sunday, February 06, 2011

I can think of very little good to say about this place. We were a party of 6 that was seated at a table more suited for a party of four. We asked for a larger table and were told that there were none. Halfway through taking our drinks order the waiter simply walked off to another table and stated taking their order, so we had to call him back. He didn't explain how our food was to come (i.e. salad bar etc. was self-service, then the meat would follow).

As for the meat - well, what little of it we got was tough and inedible. At one point I could almost see me metal knife bending in the effort to cut a piece of sirloin. The only saving graces were the grilled pork sausage and the lamb. Although they advertise different cuts of grilled meats, each server that came to our table (on the odd occasion that they did, because we had to keep calling them over) kept bringing skewer after skewer of tough, gristly, inedible beef. And the staff obviously didn’t know their beef from their lamb; one came round offering lamb which turned out to be beef. When we pointed this out to him, he shrugged his shoulders, “smiled” and moved on.

My major issue is with the lack of service; it was particularly grating to see tables around us being plied with different meats which conveniently “ran out” when it was our turn to be served. Our second drinks order had to be given to 3 separate staff members before it got to us– it wasn’t that complex, but 2 cokes and 4 beers took 20 mins to materialise. We kept asking for different types of meat but for us, the only meat on the menu was beef. In the end, we did make a bit of a fuss – it felt a bit silly making a complaint about meat but after all, we were not getting this meal for free. Eventually pork ribs came, which looked delicious but very salty, the pork loin was dry and the only the lamb redeemed this very disappointing meal.

Sub-standard food, appalling service and a total bill of £198.98 which included an £18 service charge. My friends flatly refused to pay this and were told they “had to”. Needless to say, they didn’t!

A friend and I were taken there as a “treat” – it was anything but! We’d been looking forward to going there for some months now, but this is possibly the worst restaurant I've ever had the misfortune to visit. I will neither recommend it nor go there again.
Comment on this reader review

Kaie A. Cozier
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, December 31, 2010

Ate there last night and was highly impressed by the quality of the food and the standard of service.

Despite being very busy there was a plentiful supply of various cuts of meat. My two friends who were with me left very impressed and we will definitely be back.

Decent bottle of malbec as well.
Comment on this reader review

Kevin
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Thursday, December 09, 2010

I went for a meal with a friend last night, must admit I was quite worried with all the recent reviews but kind of wanted stay in Angel and fancied a bit of meat.

Being an August wednesday evening the place was half empty and we really enjoyed our meal. £22.50 is outrageous and the quality wasn't certainly the best (often tender and rare though) but the atmosphere was nice, had a joke with the waiters so it wasnt as bad as I expected to be honest. Said that, the full menu price shouldnt be higher than £17/18 per head.
Comment on this reader review

Andy
6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Thursday, August 12, 2010

After having been recommended this restaurant, I thought it would be the ideal place to celebrate a birthday. As the celebration was for a meat lover, there could not be a better place to go (or so I thought). However, upon arriving at the restaurant, my hopes for delicious meat and never-ending food were crushed.

The waiters were EXTREMELY rude...I have no idea why they were so miserable?! I had read reviews about the attitude of the staff but overlooked it as I assumed that the customers were probably being rude themselves and I did not believe that it would make any difference to the evening. However, it did. We all felt as if we were being overlooked when the meat came around and we often witnessed the waiters skipping our table.

In addition to this, one particular waiter would come over, ask if we wanted some meat, but would walk off before we even had the chance to answer. We had to call him back about ten times - if we didn't, we would not have eaten! The other waiters were not much better. They were quite stingy in the amount of meat they gave each person and looked troubled when we would ask for more than one tiny piece of meat.

I also asked about four different waiters to remove something from our table (there was six of us and really not a lot of room to have any extra dishes on the table), yet they all ignored me. It took about half and hour for somebody to take notice (and the restaurant was VERY quiet when we went - we went on a Wednesday and there were probably three other tables eating).

As for the food itself - it was not very impressive. Perhaps if you have never eaten good meat before, then this place might seem OK, but if you have enjoyed tender good quality meat, then you will understand why this place was a disappointment. IF the food had been great, then I would be writing a good review and would have ignored the attitude of the waiters. However, it really was a let down. Each piece of meat was tough and quite dry. The only good thing we ate were the chicken wings which were delicious - but £22.50 each for chicken wings?! I don't think so.

The buffet was OK - nothing spectacular. I did end up eating more of the buffet than the meat itself. I cannot say that any of it it really stood out though.

Perhaps we expected too much for £22.50 per person. Looking back, you cannot get a good piece of meat for that price, so maybe our expectations were high. If you are looking for good meat, I would recommend that you go elsewhere. However, for what it is, it was average. I, nor any of the other five diners I went with, will be going back.
Comment on this reader review

4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Sunday, June 06, 2010

We had a table booked for 6 people on Saturday evening 9pm and arrived ten minutes early. The reception checked our booking and we were asked to wait at the bar for ten minutes, which was perfectly fine. After 20 minutes nothing had happened and so I went back to the reception enquiring about our table, while a group of six, which just had arrived in that very moment was given a table. I was told that we had booked for 9.30pm. I then insisted in going through the booking list. The assistant receptionist found my name for 9pm crossed out already. Rather than apologizing for this misunderstanding the senior recepitionist then denied to have given away our table and said they had plenty of tables. He then chucked together a few tables right in the corridor at the end of the restaurant. When we sat down we realized that we were not only sitting in the middle of the Restaurants M25, but also right under an extremely drafty aircon outlet, which was blowing right in our faces. I asked a member of staff for another table, he said 'No problem', disappeared and was never seen again.

As we were very hungry by the time, we surrendered, put on our scarfes and now all have a cold. Not quite what I consider good customer service!
Comment on this reader review

Artison Wangpraseurt
2 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Sunday, March 14, 2010